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LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS

JAMESTOWN -- About 20 businesses and other facilities in downtown Jamestown will lose their domestic hot water source this week.

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities District heating division will replace valves in the system today through Friday. BPU spokeswoman Becky Robbins said the work is part of the division's normal summer maintenance program.

St. Susan's Center, 31 Water St., will be among the 20 businesses and other facilities affected. Director Judy Christian said the center will be closed through Friday because of the work and lack of hot water.

The center distributed groceries Monday.

Robbins said the work will be done around the Steele and Harrison streets area.

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Deadly fish virus found in farm pond

RANSOMVILLE -- A deadly fish virus spreading through upstate New York has been detected in three new locations -- including a Niagara County pond -- and for the first time has been found in rainbow trout, one of the state's top game fish, state scientists said Monday.

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia was found in sunfish and koi in a 1-acre farm pond in Ransomville, state Department of Environmental Conservation officials said. The property owner reported that all the fish in the pond died. However, Doug Stang, chief of the DEC's Bureau of Fisheries, noted that the owner had transferred fish from nearby Twelve Mile Creek during the summer of 2006 as part of a fish rescue operation. The transferred fish were the likely cause of the disease being introduced to the pond's fish population.

The virus also was found in a rainbow trout taken from the Little Salmon River in Oswego County and in sunfish in the Seneca-Cayuga Canal, DEC officials said. Fish infected with VHS have been previously documented from Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, the St. Lawrence River, Conesus Lake and Skaneateles Lake.

The virus, which causes internal bleeding in fish but poses no threat to humans, was discovered in the United States in 1988 in coho and chinook salmon in the Pacific Northwest. It made its first known appearance in the Great Lakes in 2005, killing freshwater drum and muskellunge.

In New York, the virus has been identified in nearly two dozen species since first appearing last year, including muskellunge, the state's No. 2 sport fish.

In May, the DEC finalized regulations to help prevent the spread of the virus and other diseases into New York's inland waters. The regulations restrict the movement of bait fish and the stocking of fish into New York's waters.

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Pet rescue organization plans festival, yard sale

CUBA -- Joyful Rescues, a nonprofit organization that seeks homes for abandoned pets, will hold its first Pet-Fest and yard sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 3 and 4 at 1319 Turock Drive.

The event will include free rabies shots for animals, a beach party dog wash, a K9 trainer and other activities. For more information, visit www.joyfulrescues.com or call Annette Hall at 397-4622.